Index: api.scm
==================================================================
--- api.scm
+++ api.scm
@@ -371,11 +371,13 @@
     ((add-var)                      (apply db:add-var dbstruct params))
 
     ((insert-run)                   (apply db:insert-run dbstruct params))
 
     ;; STEPS
-    ((teststep-set-status!)         (apply db:teststep-set-status! dbstruct params))
+    ((teststep-set-status!)
+     ;; (apply db:teststep-set-status! dbstruct params))
+     (db:add-cached-write dbstruct db:teststep-set-status! run-id params))
     ((delete-steps-for-test!)       (apply db:delete-steps-for-test! dbstruct params))
     
     ;; TEST DATA
     ((test-data-rollup)             (apply db:test-data-rollup dbstruct params))
     ((csv->test-data)               (apply db:csv->test-data dbstruct params))

Index: db.scm
==================================================================
--- db.scm
+++ db.scm
@@ -2739,12 +2739,10 @@
       "INSERT OR REPLACE into test_steps (test_id,stepname,state,status,event_time,comment,logfile) VALUES(?,?,?,?,?,?,?);"
       test-id teststep-name state-in status-in (current-seconds)
       (if comment comment "")
       (if logfile logfile "")))))
 
-
-
 (define (db:delete-steps-for-test! dbstruct run-id test-id)
   ;; TODO: figure out why status is the key field rather than state (note:  CONSTRAINT test_steps_constraint UNIQUE (test_id,stepname,state) )
   (db:with-db
    dbstruct
    run-id
@@ -4247,10 +4245,56 @@
 	   (conc (current-directory) "/" outputfile)))
      results)
     ;; brutal clean up
     (dbfile:add-dbdat dbstruct #f dbdat)
     (system "rm -rf tempdir")))
+
+;;======================================================================
+;; cached writes stuff
+;;======================================================================
+
+(define (db:add-cached-write dbstruct proc run-id params)
+  (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Adding cached write for run-id "run-id" params " params)
+  (mutex-lock! *cached-writes-mutex*)
+  (let* ((hkey                (cons dbstruct run-id))
+	 (cached-writes-queue (hash-table-ref/default *cached-writes-queues* hkey '())))
+    (hash-table-set! *cached-writes-queues* hkey (cons (list proc params) cached-writes-queue)))
+  (if (not *cached-writes-flag*)
+      (begin
+	(set! *cached-writes-flag* #t)
+	(thread-start! (make-thread
+			(lambda ()
+			  (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "process cached writes thread started.")
+			  (thread-sleep! 1)
+			  (db:process-cached-writes-queue))))))
+  (mutex-unlock! *cached-writes-mutex*))
+
+(define (db:process-cached-writes-queue)
+  (mutex-lock! *cached-writes-mutex*)
+  (hash-table-for-each
+   *cached-writes-queues*
+   (lambda (hkey writes-list)
+     (let* ((dbstruct (car hkey))
+	    (run-id   (cdr hkey)))
+       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Processing "(length writes-list)" cached writes for run "run-id)
+       (db:with-db
+	dbstruct
+	run-id
+	#t 
+	(lambda (dbdat db)
+	  (sqlite3:with-transaction
+	   db
+	   (lambda ()
+	     (for-each
+	      (lambda (queued-write)
+		(match queued-write
+		       ((proc params)(apply proc dbstruct params))
+		       (else (assert #f "BAD queued-write"))))
+	      writes-list)))
+	  (hash-table-delete! *cached-writes-queues* hkey))))))
+  (set! *cached-writes-flag* #f)
+  (mutex-unlock! *cached-writes-mutex*))
 
 ;; (db:extract-ods-file db "outputfile.ods" '(("sysname" "%")("fsname" "%")("datapath" "%")) "%")
 
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; moving watch dogs here due to dependencies

Index: dbfile.scm
==================================================================
--- dbfile.scm
+++ dbfile.scm
@@ -1579,7 +1579,17 @@
 			    ;; (db:hoh-set! stmt-cache db stmt newstmth)
 			    (hash-table-set! stmt-cache stmt newstmth)
 			    newstmth))))
     (mutex-unlock! *get-cache-stmth-mutex*)
     result))
+
+;;======================================================================
+;; cached writes - run list of procs inside transaction
+;;   NOTE: this only works because we have once database per process
+;;======================================================================
+
+(define *cached-writes-mutex* (make-mutex))
+(define *cached-writes-flag*  #f)
+(define *cached-writes-queues* (make-hash-table)) ;; dbstruct->list of writes
+
 
 )

Index: dbmod.scm
==================================================================
--- dbmod.scm
+++ dbmod.scm
@@ -119,12 +119,14 @@
 			      (loop (- count 1)))
 			    (begin
 			      (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "dbmod:with-db, database is busy, giving up.")
 			      (exit 1))))
 		   (exn ()
-			(dbfile:print-err exn "ERROR: Unknown error with database for run-id "run-id", message: "
-					  ((condition-property-accessor 'exn 'message) exn))
+			(dbfile:print-err exn "ERROR: Unknown error with db for run-id "
+					  run-id", message: "
+					  ((condition-property-accessor 'exn 'message) exn)
+					  ", details: "(condition->list exn))
 			(exit 2))))))
       (if use-mutex (mutex-unlock! *db-with-db-mutex*))
       res)))
 
 (define (db:with-db dbstruct run-id w/r proc . params)

Index: rmt.scm
==================================================================
--- rmt.scm
+++ rmt.scm
@@ -72,34 +72,11 @@
 
 ;; RA => e.g. usage (rmt:send-receive 'get-var #f (list varname))
 ;;
 (define (rmt:send-receive cmd rid params #!key (attemptnum 1)(area-dat #f)) ;; start attemptnum at 1 so the modulo below works as expected
   (assert *toppath* "FATAL: rmt:send-receive called with *toppath* not set.")
-
-  (if (not (eq? (rmt:transport-mode) 'nfs))
-      (begin
-	(if (> attemptnum 2)
-	    (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: attemptnum in rmt:send-receive is " attemptnum))
-	
-	(cond
-	 ((> attemptnum 2) (thread-sleep! 0.05))
-	 ((> attemptnum 10) (thread-sleep! 0.5))
-	 ((> attemptnum 20) (thread-sleep! 1)))
-	
-	;; I'm turning this off, it may make sense to move it
-	;; into http-transport-handler
-	(if (and (> attemptnum 5) (= 0 (modulo attemptnum 15)))  
-	    (begin
-	      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "ERROR: can't connect to server, trying to start a server.")
-	      (case (rmt:transport-mode)
-		((http)
-		 (server:run *toppath*)
-		 (thread-sleep! 3))
-		(else
-		 (thread-sleep! 1) ;; for tcp the server is started by routines in tcp-transportmod. For nfs there is no server
-		 ))))))
-  
+	
   ;; 1. check if server is started IFF cmd is a write OR if we are not on the homehost, store in runremote
   ;; 2. check the age of the connections. refresh the connection if it is older than timeout-20 seconds.
   ;; 3. do the query, if on homehost use local access
   ;;
   (let* ((start-time    (current-seconds)) ;; snapshot time so all use cases get same value